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If only we earned frequent flier miles for caravans…

Three thousand miles, 13 cities, 13 days. And it isn’t even Spring Training yet! Another caravan season is complete, and it appears few stones, if any, were left unturned. A full rundown, courtesy of the Astros Community Affairs department…

HOUSTON,
TX
– The Houston Astros 2011 Caravan wrapped up another successful tour on
Saturday, January 29 with a clinic at the Houston Astros MLB Urban Youth
Academy. With that event, the Astros caravan completed its annual tour,
making 44 stops in 13 cities over 13 days traveling more than 3,000 miles.

“Every
January the Astros caravan hits the road visiting fans throughout Texas and
this year we expanded our travels to Oklahoma City, the home of our new AAA
team,” said Astros owner Drayton McLane. “The caravan is something we
have been doing for many years and we enjoy and are grateful for the
opportunity it gives us to spend quality time with our fans.”

The
Houston Astros 2011 Caravan began with three full days of visits throughout the
Houston area (Jan. 13-15). Highlights included a reading pep rally at
Northshore Middle School, hosting an elementary class from Bauerschlag Elementary
to a behind-the-scenes tour at NASA, a visit with the citizens of Brookwood
Community Center and free, public autograph sessions at Academy Sports +
Outdoors stores.

During
the caravan’s second week, the Astros made a two-day trip to Oklahoma City
(Jan. 18-19), where the team visited pediatric patients at the Jimmy Everest
Center for Cancer, met Oklahoma City fans at several RedHawks functions and
spent time with military personnel at Tinker Air Force Base. The
three-day swing through central Texas (Jan. 18-20) included visits with kids at
the Helping Hand Home for Children, Dell Children’s Medical Center, Dawson
Elementary School and the Boys and Girls Club, along with several stops at
military installations. Visits to Corpus Christi and Victoria (Jan. 21)
wrapped up the caravan’s second week.

The
final week of the tour featured three days in the Temple, Texas area (Jan.
24-26) meeting students from numerous area schools, visiting patients at Scott
and White Hospital and signing autographs for fans at Academy Sports + Outdoors
and the Temple Mall. The team’s annual trek culminated back in Houston
with a multicultural caravan that visited fans in culturally diverse
communities (Jan. 27-29).

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